Thousands of Londoners continue to live in tall buildings with fire safety issues nearly a decade after Grenfell Tower disaster, reports Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter

Cladding being removed from a building and (inset) London mayor Sadiq Khan

Dangerous cladding on the capital’s high-rise buildings won’t be fixed “for some time”, Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has admitted.

Ministers have ordered landlords to either remediate or set a completion date for all residential buildings over eleven metres with unsafe cladding nationwide by 2029, or risk severe penalties.

Until then, however, residents across the capital remain “trapped” in unsellable and unsafe properties, almost ten years on from the Grenfell Tower tragedy, where inappropriate cladding was one of the main reasons why the initial fire engulfed the entire building, killing 72 residents.

Khan says London is uniquely exposed to this danger, with the capital having more than double the amount of dangerous buildings than the rest of the country put together.

During a session of People’s Question Time last month, Khan was asked what City Hall are doing to fast track remediation for the most vulnerable residents.

The unnamed questioner, who lives in Theatro Tower in Greenwich, said her building was still covered in aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, which can contribute to the rapid spread of fire and release toxic fumes in the event of a fire.

“It’s a building of eight storeys and 52 apartments and it’s still covered in ACM cladding,” she told the mayor.

“Our building’s insurance is £130,000 and this has resulted in the deterioration of our building.

“We have elderly and disabled people trapped in their homes because we don’t have a working lift.

“What are the GLA [Greater London Authority] doing to alleviate the bottleneck of Building Safety Fund applications and fast track those of us living in unjust and unacceptable conditions?”

The mayor pointed out the establishment of a new coalition between City Hall, government, local councils, the London Fire Brigade and regulatory bodies that aims to “accelerate the removal of unsafe cladding on residential buildings over 11m” in the capital, but admitted a lot of Londoners will simply have to wait before they can be sure their building is safe.

“The idea of owning a home is a dream – but it becomes a nightmare if you have dangerous cladding and can’t sell it,” he said.

“It’s an albatross around your head. One of the things Grenfell taught us is that people are living in buildings that are dangerous.

“The bad news is that it’s taken years and the cladding is still up. We’ve said to the government that the scheme is not working – even though they’ve set aside a billion pounds.

“They have agreed to allow my deputy mayor and the safety minister be in charge of the joint remediation body to get the cladding removed, to find landowners and managers.

“We’re trying to persude the government to take action against all types of buildings and all types of cladding.

“I’m confident, working with the Building Safety Regular and the safety minister, that City Hall can make some progress. But the bad news is that it won’t happen for some time because of the backlog of unsafe buildings in London.

“In London alone, we have more than double the amount of dangerous buildings than the rest of the country put together. This is a London problem.”

There were 4,310 residential buildings 11m and over in height identified with unsafe cladding by the government at the end of February, nationwide. Overall, 2,298 buildings (53%) have undergone remediation, including 1,521 buildings (35%) which have completed the works. There are still 15 buildings yet to start ACM remediation of the 513 identified.

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